The Jedi and The Hobbit
by BonesDoUrden
Summary: Kanin Jaale wakes up in Middle Earth and the last thing she remembers is working on her star-fighter. How'd she get there? How is she going to get back? What happens when Merry and the rest of the Fellowship meet her? Find out here! Rated for violence.
1. Prologue

"Uhhh...for the love of the Republic, what happened?" she muttered, eyes still closed, mostly because the heels of her hands were pressed into them.

The last thing Kanin remembered was being in the hanger of a Republic starship, working on her fighter after having re-docked following a dogfight over Naboo when some kind of explosion knocked her out.

"Father! She's awake!" a soft voice exclaimed, a hand soon coming to rest on her arm, "How are you feeling?"

"Like my fighter just blew up in my face," Kanin muttered, still pressing on her eyes.

"What's your name? And what's a fighter?"

Kanin bolted upright at the second question, looking around her with wide eyes—where was...SPACE?! Where was Naboo? Wherever she was OBVIOUSLY wasn't Naboo. Kanin knew that planet almost as well as she knew the Jedi temple. "Where am I?! What happened?"

"Shh, shh, calm down—no one here is going to hurt you... What's your name?" the pale skinned woman sitting on the edge of the bed repeated.

"Uhh," she wracked her brain, trying to remember, "Kanin...Jaale. Where is Master Leroc?"

"Who?"

"My Master—Jedi Master Spydu Leroc... Better yet, where am I?"

"I have never heard of a race called 'Jedi' ...You are in Rivendell, Kanin Jaale, with the elves."

Kanin ran a hand over her short dark, dirty green colored hair and the small horns scattered across the top of her head and pulled on the short ponytail at the back of it, "Elves?"

Her hand reached subconsciously for the belt around her waist, only to learn that there were two very important metal tubes missing, "Oh for the love of the Republic; Master Leroc is going to kill me if I've managed to lose my lightsabers again."

"Are you looking for those?" the woman asked, pointing to the small table beside the bed she was in.

She lunged for them and activated both, the deep hum of the green blades putting Kanin at ease, "Thank the stars... Not only would Master Leroc have killed me, so would Master Yoda... Wait, I'm going crazy! What are you, what is your name, where is Rivendell and what are elves?"

"My name is Arwen, Rivendell is in Middle Earth and elves are...well, perhaps I should show you instead." She got up and held a hand toward Kanin, "Well, come along, no one here will harm you,"

Having previously de-activated and returned her sabers to her belt, Kanin slowly reached out to grasp Arwen's hand, which helped her up from the bed and led her through the white colored wood room and out an open doorway to a veranda beyond. The sight that met her eyes vaguely reminded her of Kashyyyk, only on a smaller scale, less technologically advanced, and much, much prettier.

"...Wow," she breathed, taking it all in, "I've got to be dreaming—elves, Middle Earth, Rivendell... A power coupling must have exploded in my face or something..."

"What's that?"

"What's what?"

"That thing you just said...a power coupling?"

"It- ...Well it's like-" Kanin thought for a moment, then grabbed Arwen's hand, "Say this is a coupling, okay? A power coupling is a coupling that binds a certain kind of power together... Understand?"

"I think so..."

Kanin let her hand go and walked across the veranda a little ways, coming to a stop by a railing, her hands clasped behind her back and her feet shoulder width apart; closing her eyes, she calmed herself down into meditation.

"...Kanin? Are you okay?"

"I'm meditating," she answered softly, not breaking her concentration, "It calms me..."

She felt Arwen's presence leave and remained in the statuesque meditative state until shouts of joy broke Kanin's concentration; curious, she jumped over the railing and landed lightly in a crouch, balancing on the balls of her feet. Four small men had been in the process of hugging each other excitedly until she dropped down, "You're not an elf," one of them stated.

She shook her head, "No, I'm a Jedi Padawan... And I'm not quite sure how I got here. What are you?"

"Hobbits," the black haired, sickly looking one answered, "I'm Frodo Baggins and this is Samwise Gamgee, Peregrin Took and Meriadoc Brandybuck."

"Kanin Jaale—pleased to meet you," she smiled, noticing the Hobbit Frodo said was Meriadoc watching her every move.

"Why do you have black and red skin and horns coming out of your head?" he asked.

"I am an Iridonian—my skin is red, but I've had extensive black tattoos added to show my heritage—as for the horns, they are present on every member of my race, much as your small stature seems to be present in all of your race…"

"Kanin? ...Kanin! Where are you?"

"Down here, Arwen," she answered.

She looked over the railing and smiled, her dark hair falling in her face, "My father would like to see you... And you Frodo Baggins,"

Kanin and Frodo were led to a secluded area with a semi-circle of chairs—already there and seated were four elves, five humans, three Hobbit looking creatures with an extreme excess of facial hair and a tall elderly looking man wearing long gray robes and a pointy gray hat.

"You must be Kanin Jaale," a male elf smiled, tipping his head in a friendly bow, "I am Lord Elrond, Arwen's father... Are you feeling any better since mysteriously appearing here?"

"I am, Lord Elrond," Kanin answered bowing respectfully.

"Frodo, Kanin, please have a seat," Elrond gestured toward two empty chairs beside the man in gray.

Frodo seemed to know the man and sat beside him, while Kanin sat on Frodo's other side.

She sat quietly through the other's discussions and even through their arguing, feeling that it was not her place to get involved, playing with the long, thin, dirty green braid that began behind her left ear.

"I will go—I will take the ring to Mordor," Frodo volunteered, standing up again, "But...I do not know the way,"

The man in gray stood as well and placed a hand on the Hobbit's shoulder, "I will help you there,"

One of the humans—the most rugged and road hardened one there—walked over and knelt before Frodo, "If by my life or death I can protect you, Frodo Baggins... You have my sword,"

"And my bow," one of the blonde haired elves added.

One of the Hobbit looking creatures stood, "And my axe,"

Samwise, Meriadoc and Peregrin jumped out from hidden places in the bushes, "We're going with you, Frodo!"

"Uncanny how they appear at a secret council they weren't invited to," Elrond remarked.

"...Frodo, I may not know much about anything around me, but you will have the Force and my lightsabers to protect you as well," Kanin spoke up suddenly, realizing this was why she was here in Rivendell, and came to stand beside him as well.

"So you are all willing to risk your lives for the sake of this Hobbit's ludicrous adventure?" another human questioned, then sighed and shrugged, "...Count me in,"

"Nine companions," Elrond mused, "So be it. You will be the Fellowship of the Ring—go now, prepare yourselves for the long road ahead of you,"

"I am Legolas," the elf said by way of introduction, a small smile sent her way.

"Kanin,"

"Yes, introductions seem to be in order," the man in gray chuckled, "I am Gandalf the Grey—a wizard,"

"I'm Gimli, lass and I'm a dwarf,"

"Boromir," the second human added.

The other human's face remained eerily calm, "And I am Aragorn,"

"You already know us," Meriadoc smiled, "But you can call us Merry, Pippin and Sam like everyone else,"

"If you didn't already know—which I'm sure you did—I am Kanin Jaale, an Iridonian Jedi Padawan."


	2. Chapter 1

"Kanin!" a voice called as she spun around deliberately, twirling her lightsabers in methodical swirls, allowing the humming of the blades to calm her; she stopped however, when she heard Legolas calling her name.

"Yes, Legolas?"

He carried a sheathed sword and dagger with him as he joined her on the veranda and handed them to her, "Lord Elrond wishes you to take these with on our journey."

Kanin moved over to where a bench stood and hooked her light sabers on her belt before unbuckling it—setting it on the bench, she unwrapped the light colored cloth which resided under her belt and set it too on the bench. Legolas then handed the sword to her and she wrapped the sword belt around her waist, angling it so neither the sword nor the dagger—which was also attached to the belt—would be in the way of her light sabers. Wrapping the cloth belt around her waist again, she levitated her thick leather belt—which held her lightsabers, food capsules, a small pouch of tools, her communicator and a small blaster—up to her waist and curled it around, catching the loose ends with her hands and buckling it closed again; unfortunately, the blaster rested over the dagger Legolas had given her and she was forced to further adjust both belts until all obstructions were taken care of.

"How did you do that?" Legolas asked, perplexed.

"Do what?"

"Make your belt float up like that,"

She smiled and concentrated until his feet left the ground a few inches, "It's called the Force and is the source of my powers."

"What is the Force?"

"The Force is what gives a Jedi his or her power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together."

"You must communicate with your Force…how?"

Kanin smiled again, "You're insightful, Legolas… Jedi communicate with the Force through midi-chlorians. Midi-chlorians are a microscopic life form that reside within all living cells and communicate with the Force. ... Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to you, telling you the will of the Force."

He returned her smile, "We'll be leaving soon—do you have a traveling pack?"

She shook her head, "No, but I don't need one; I've got everything I need right here on my belt… Minus my cloak of course, but that's inside."

Legolas nodded warily, "Then come, you can help me make sure the Hobbits are ready."

Kanin followed him quietly, grabbing her big, hooded brown cloak as they traipsed through her room toward their destination.

She purposely let down her defenses to see just what the little Hobbit would do; as soon as the Force whispered to her, Kanin jumped back and swung her sword arm around, a clang of metal swords ringing through the air. Boromir was working with the other light brown haired Hobbit—Pippin.

"You're lucky I have to use this when I'm teaching you how to fight, Merry," Kanin smiled teasingly, parrying another one of his amateur attacks.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked defensively, allowing his sword to fall to his side.

She grinned and called one of her lightsabers to her free hand and gestured to the small man to follow her. "This is the kind of weapon I'm used to," for demonstrative purposes, she smacked the flat side of her sword against a bolder, then activated the dark green blade of her saber and plunged it into the rock up to the hilt, "See?"

What about that one?" he asked, now curious, pointing at the small black blaster.

Kanin returned the lightsaber and sword to her belts and retrieved the blaster, firing a few shots into the same bolder, leaving holes that were a few inches deep in her wake. Merry, being the curious one he was, went to touch the impressions, but the young Jedi shooed his hand away, "Unless you want molten rock burning the skin off your hand, I wouldn't touch that. Now…let's get back to that sword lesson—unless you want Pippin to be able to kill more orcs than you?"

"You're hilarious, Kanin. Pippin could never beat me at anything!"

"I could too!" Pippin exclaimed, his attention leaving the practice fight with Boromir and the big sword that came swinging down, which Kanin shot a hand out to divert by using the Force; she didn't quite deflect it enough and it nicked the Hobbit's arm.

"_Just_ what we needed," Legolas lamented, his chin resting against his palm.

"Sit down," Kanin ordered, unclipping her lightsaber again, "Boromir, hold him still…Pippin, this might hurt a little, but it will stop the bleeding."

Everyone in their group gathered around to watch as the green blade once more hummed to life and slowly pressed against the bleeding wound, the skin sizzling and leaving a thin trail of smoke as the injured Hobbit cried out in pain.

"How did you know that would work?" Aragorn asked.

"How do you think Jedi quickly tend their wounds on a battlefield?"

The Force whispered to her and Kanin was soon on her feet looking in the direction they would be traveling later, "Legolas, what do your eyes see?"

"Scouts from Mordor!" he exclaimed, eyes focused in the direction of the black cloud swiftly moving toward them, and against the wind no less, "Hide!"

As everyone scrambled to hide, Kanin snatched up her cloak, quickly slipping into it and throwing the hood over her head to mask the color of her skin and hair better while she found cover under some scraggly bushes, in close quarters to Boromir, Merry and Pippin.

"Merry," Pippin hissed, "You left your sword out in the open!"

The Hobbit moved to go get it and Kanin pressed a hand to his shoulder to keep him in his place, raising the other and summoning the short blade to her, "Don't move."

Before the danger had managed to pass, a bright flash overtook Kanin's eyes and she soon found herself pressing the heels of her hands against them, grumbling, "For the love of the Republic what is going on?"

"Kanin! Are you alright?" a low voice asked worriedly, a hand resting on each of her shoulders.

"Master?" she asked softly, slowly removing her hands to squint in his direction, "...I'm back?"

"Back from where? What are those contraptions you're wearing?"

"Rivendell? …No, north-west of Rivendell...Merry's sword in the open—my sword… The Mordor scouts… Legolas, Gimli, Gandalf… Boromir, Pippin, Frodo, Sam, Aragorn? …Arwen—I hope she will be alright…"

"Kanin Jaale, what in the world are you going on about?" her master demanded, watching her with confused gray eyes.

"The elves, Middle Earth… the Ring of power!" she rambled on, her words all in a jumble. "I have to go back! They need me…Frodo he—he doesn't fully realize what he's gotten into…"

Master Spydu helped her to sit up and said, "Come young Padawan, let us speak to Yoda about this—perhaps he can explain."

Kanin followed him obediently until they reached Master Yoda's chambers on the Republic ship where he ushered for her to enter first.

"Troubled you are, Kanin Jaale," the small, old green alien smiled, "Explain to me your troubles, you must,"

"Master Yoda," she said softly, crossing the room quickly to kneel on the floor before the small chair he sat upon, "I do not know what happened, but I went to a place called Middle Earth and began a mission with eight others to stop a Dark Lord…I need to return – I need to help them – they will not succeed without help…"

Yoda looked to her Master for clarification of the radical claim. "She has the gift of foresight, Master Yoda."

"How got there did you?"

"I do not know…"

"Young Padawan, tell me about this Middle Earth you will…See if we can, learn how you got there."

Kanin nodded silently and began to tell of her strange trip to Middle Earth.

"Something on your mind there is Master Leroc, share, you must." Yoda said when Kanin was finished.

"I last saw my young Padawan in her quarters after she had repaired her fighter… She did not disappear from the hanger, but from her room after we were hit by the asteroid…"

Kanin looked down at her folded hands and thought, "That's right… I remember I was meditating when the white flash hit me, then I woke up in Rivendell…"

"Meditate then, you must, young one. Get back to Middle Earth you must… Need your help, the Fellowship might."

She nodded and sat back, closing her eyes to focus on nothing but the quiet thrum of the starship's engines. The next thing she knew, something bright flashed before her closed eyelids and when she opened them, found herself opening her eyes and seeing white stone beneath her. She heard the soft sobs of three hobbits and looked up to see Merry and Pippin holding each other and crying; Boromir held Sam back from running into a dark cave while Aragorn ran after Frodo who was walking away toward Mordor; Legolas just sat silently upon a bolder, his chin in his hand, staring at the black tunnel.

Kanin quietly rose to her feet and approached Merry and Pippin and knelt down to wrap her arms around them in a gentle hug.

"What happened my little friends?"

They both turned to hug her back and Merry murmured into her shoulder, "Gandalf is dead…"

Kanin hugged them tighter and Gimli said gruffly, "We need t' leave afore the whole mountain side is covered in goblins."

"Can we not even give them a moment to mourn?" both Boromir and Kanin snapped.

"Gimli is right," Legolas said softly, picking up Pippin and putting the distraught hobbit over his shoulder, "We must leave this mountain quickly… The hobbits are not the only ones who wish to mourn Gandalf's passing… We might all find a moment for it when we are far from this place…"

"Boromir, carry Sam, Kanin take Merry, I shall carry Frodo and Legolas will take Pippin so we might leave this place with the greatest haste," Aragorn soothed, "We shall have our time to remember our friend once we have put many miles between us and Moria."

Kanin agreed silently and easily lifted small Merry to her back where he wrapped his arms around her neck and his legs around her waist. Then they were off at a swift run, Kanin and Legolas making fast work of finding quick routes down the mountain by jumping and running from precariously balanced boulder to precariously balanced boulder while their human and dwarven counterparts found safer trails.

It was near the next dawn before they finally collapsed with exhaustion in a clearing in the forest that had long ago overrun the valley of the mountain range. Aragon built a small fire while the others wrapped their traveling cloaks about themselves and laid down to rest within the warm glow of the fire. Kanin Jaale was the exception. She sat with her knees tucked up against her chest and watched the fire dace in the darkness. She didn't know how long she had sat there until a voice broke her gaze from the fire, "Why did you leave?"

Kanin looked over and saw Merry next to her, "I didn't mean to… But I figured out how to return and did so…"

"We really could have used the help when we were in Moria…"

Kanin smiled at him resignedly, but said nothing.

"If you can figure out how to go between here and wherever you're from, couldn't you figure out a way to change things so Gandalf didn't die?"

She shook her head, "It is impossible to change another person's fate, only your own. I believe Gandalf died for a reason… Perhaps we will see him again before all of this is over."

Merry smiled hopefully and nodded, "I hope so,"

Kanin laughed softly and hugged the Hobbit's shoulders, "You certainly are an optimistic Hobbit, Merry Brandybuck."

He smiled sheepishly at the young Iridonian, "...Kanin?"

"Yes?"

"I- ...I missed you."

Kanin returned his smile, "I missed you too, Merry. Now lie down and get some rest."


End file.
